Pre-Remington Marlin or Miroku/Browning/Winchester

Depends on how traditional you want to be. If you want to scope it, Marlin all the way. If you don't, then it is hard to ignore the various Miroku iterations.

I have an 80s Browning/Miroku already. I wound up winning a more recent Winchester/Miroku (with tang safety) at an auction recently. Hopefully I'll have it in hand next week and can give some thoughts shortly thereafter.